Abstract

RENDON, Sisko. The mining mita of Huancavelica and the depopulation during the XVI-XVIII centuries. The case of the province of Chumbivilcas, Peru. Pap. poblac [online]. 2020, vol.26, n.106, pp.155-181.  Epub Nov 03, 2021. ISSN 2448-7147.  https://doi.org/10.22185/24487147.2020.106.34.

The debate concerning the reduction in population that Peru has undergone over its history has led people to adopt opposing positions. On the one hand, different authors defend the hypothesis that Peru suffered from the voracity of the invasion, on the other hand, there are those who brandish the theory of a biological conquest. The objective of this study is to characterize the evolution of the population and the impact of the mita mining policy. That system of forced labor obliged indigenous men to work in mines and during the centuries when it was in force, it decimated the aboriginal Inca population of the Chumbivilcas. The methodology adopted consists of reviewing church records and those of other population counts from the period. The findings of this research are expressed as statistics and, among other conclusions, they highlight that the reduction in the population caused by the slavery of the mita mining system.

Keywords : Population; evolution; work; Chumbivilcas; Perú.